Shloka 1073
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
गुणस्त्वेवापरस्तत्र संघात इव षोडश: । राजन्! उस अहंकारमें वासना नामक एक गुण और माना गया है, जो पंद्रहवाँ है। वहाँ पृथक्ू-पृथक् कलाओंके समूहकी जो समग्रता है, वह एक अन्य गुण है। वह संघातकी भाँति यहाँ सोलहवाँ कहा जाता है
guṇas tvevāparastatra saṅghāta iva ṣoḍaśaḥ | rājan! asau ahaṅkāre vāsanā nāmaka eka guṇaś ca mānyate, yaḥ pañcadaśaḥ | tatra pṛthak-pṛthak-kalā-samūhasya yā samagratā, sā anya guṇaḥ | sa saṅghāta-vad iha ṣoḍaśaḥ kathyate ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Wahai Raja, dalam susunan itu ada lagi satu unsur: dalam prinsip keakuan (ahaṅkāra) turut diakui satu sifat bernama ‘vāsanā’—kecenderungan terpendam atau kesan baki—sebagai yang kelima belas. Selain itu, keseluruhan yang terhasil daripada himpunan bahagian-bahagian atau fakulti yang berasingan juga dihitung sebagai satu unsur lain; seperti suatu gabungan komposit (saṅghāta), di sini ia disebut yang keenam belas.”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage refines a philosophical enumeration by adding two subtle points: (1) vāsanā—latent impressions that shape behavior—operates within egoity and must be counted; and (2) beyond separate parts, their integrated total (saṅghāta) is also a real explanatory category. Ethical self-mastery therefore requires attention not only to visible faculties but also to hidden habits and the way they combine into a unified personality.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented philosophy. Here he is explaining a technical framework of constituents (guṇas/tattvas), clarifying that vāsanā is counted as the fifteenth and the aggregate-whole (saṅghāta-like totality) as the sixteenth.